Divisible soap bar



Jan. 25, 1944- J. E. EGAN DIVISIBLE'SOAP BAR Filed Dec. 2, 1941 INVENT'OR, JAMES L. EGAN.

AT OR N EYS fragments. 7

gated shape havetended to break into small.

Patented Jan. 25,- 1944 UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE DIVISIBLESOAP Bnlt James E. Egan, West New Brighton. N. Y., assignor to The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application December 2, 1941, Serial No. 421,381 (Cl. 252-134) 9 Claims.

My invention relates to bars of soap which may readily be broken in two, and to a novel method of making such bars.

It is frequently considered desirable, especially in bar soaps-suitable both for toilet and for general household use, to so design the bar that it may if desired readily be broken into two smaller bar's. This has been accomplished in the past by notching the face and/or the sides of the bar about midway of its length. This design has been fairly satisfactory, but it is open to the objection that when the bar is broken along the general line of the notches, the broken surfaces Another object is to make this breakable bar in V such a manner that it possesses sumcient strength tobe handledandusedasafull sizebar, if desired, without falling apart or breaking too easily before it is substantially used up.

' Another object of myinvention is so to make a bar of soap that'when it is worn to the point that it breaks apart itbreaks into two pieces of approximately equal size, rather than into smaller Heretofore bars 7 of soap of elonpieces when nearly used up, these fragments Another object is to make abar of soap which,

when partially out along a transverse median plane, will tend to'split in two along this plane without spiintering or breaking Another liject is to-make such a breakable bar of-soap by a method which is simple and practical and. applicable to-modern high-speed production methods.

Mymethod of making ab bar of soap sbapeoftheflnalbar. Thisblankbarmaybe madeeitlmr: byframing cmtchedsoap, allowing Iolidib, and then into intosegments; or by filling blank molds with substantially fluid soap and cooling until solidified; or by other suitable methods.

The blank bars at approximately room temperature are then usually pressed into final form by means of a soap stamp which comprises a pair of heavy metal dies which are brought towards each other forcibly so'that each presses one of the opposite faces of the bar, thus imprinting upon the bar the design of the dies. During this pressing operation thebar is usually held in place in a frame or mold known as a die box, which is a heavy metal block having a pocket open on opposite sides for admission of the soap and of the dies,- this pocket having interior side surfaces shaped to conform with the outline of the dies and of the finished bar of soap.

, The-making of blank barsand their pressing intoffinal form by means of a soap stamp are well known operations in the soap industry. My

invention is applicable to blank bars of soap generally, regardless of their method of manufacture.

The process of my invention and the resulting product will be made clear by the accompanying drawing and the following description; v

In the drawing, all in perspective, Fig. 1- represents a blank bar of soap which has been perforated by means of a row of three thin knife blades.

Fig; 2 represents the same bar afterit has been pressed into final form, the perforations having,

been substantially closed.

Fig. 3 represents schematically the elements of been perforated by means of a row of needles.

' Fig. 5 represents the same bar after it has been pressed into final form, the perforations having been substantially closed.

Fi 6 represents schematically representative elemenis of an inspecting device designed to stop the process of perforating oneofthe needles breaks.

Incarryingoutthepracticeofmyinventionin a; preferred manner, Ifirst perforate the blank bar from'its front face to, or nearly to, itsback fmattwoormorepointsdisposedalongam s with needles if dianlineacrossthehanbymeansofapluralityot v thinsteelbladesmonntedatapproximatelyequab,

' yspacedintervalsinasinglestraightromtheirbroad surfaces alined, thus producing through the a row of perforaticns about midway of 2,339,773 its length. I then withdraw the knife blades from the 'bar and then press the bar into final form by means of a soap stamp according to well known practice. This pressing operation serves (in addition to its normalfunction of imparting a desired pattern to the soap bar) to close up the perforations, 'at the points where they pierce the front and/or back faces of the bar, to the extent of making them substantially invisible, and to so nearly collapse or close. the

perforations throughout their entire lengths that they will not present objectionable cavities to collect dirt during use of the soap, and that they will not substantially or effectively reduce the specific gravity of the whole bar.

Because this bar perforating operation may accidentally result in imbedding a broken fragment of one of the piercing blades in the soap,

I prefer to provide an inspection of the blades after each bar is perforated, and, to stop the perforating device at once if any blade or part thereof is found to be missing, in order that the bar containing the fragment may be discarded.

When using an automatic machine-driven perforating device, which is the form I prefer, this inspecting may be done automatically by throwing a narrow pencil of light, I in Fig. 4, on the flat surface of each blade, 2, maintaining this beam 61 light at a point on the blade which is just back of its tip after the blade has been fully withdrawn from the soap. An electric eye, 3, mounted beyond the blade, in a position to receive the light beam, if the end of the blade should be broken off or if the blade should be missing, may then be employed to actuate a relay which in turn serves to disconnect the electric motor which drives the perforating device, whenever this contingency occurs. When the device thus stops operating, the bar which has just been perforated may be removed and discarded. It is of course necessary to have a separate beam of light for each [perforating blade,

broken fragment of steel in a bar may be performed in a difl'erent manner. For example, in place of a light beam impinging on each perforating blade-while it pierces the bar and is withdrawn, I may employ a small rod, 4 in Fig. 6, (which shows only .one of the rods), of any suitable solid material. pressed against each perforating needle, 5, 'by means of a spring 6, this rod being held in line with a position that is near the tip of the needle when withdrawal of the needle from the bar is complete. If the needle breaks for any reason this rod then moves across the path of the needle due to the pressing action of the-spring on the rod. I employ this movement of the rod to actuate an electric switch, I, which breaks the circuit of the motor driving the perforating device whenever a needle breaks. As long as the needle is intact, the

needle merely slides back and forth against the then stationary rod as it moves in and out to perforate successive bars,. and as long as this condition exists the motor circuit may remain unbroken. A separate rod and spring is provided for each needle.

Instead of perforating the soap bars entirely through, it may be more desirable to perforate them only about half or three-fourths of' their thickness. Fractional perforations from opposite faces of the bar, instead of from only one face, may also be employed.

The bar perforating operation is conveniently performed immediately be'fore the final bar pressing operation, and in this event the perforating device may be attached to the soap stamp.

- perforating device may be mounted to the left mentioned patent), cutting away part of thealthough only one relay and circuit breaker are needed.

The widths of the. thin perforating blades and their alined spacing across the narrow dimension of the face of the bar are preferably so related that the finished bar is strong enough of the conduit 29 (shown in Fig. 7 of the-aforewall of this conduit so that the perforating blades may move through this opening into each blank bar of soap as it enters the conduit to be elevated into position for loading into the die box or mold of the stamp. The perforating blades must then be timed so as to be withdrawn before the elevating of the bar begins. When the perforating device is thus combined with a motor to be used without accidental breaking until it wears thin, and yet not so strong along the line of perforations that the bar may not readily be broken in two, for example, if laid against a straight edge along this line and pressed against this edge by pressure applied to its opposite" ends. With a rectangular bar whose front and back faces each measure two and a half inches by four inches, I have found that two thin blades each about ilve-eighths of an inch wide, or three thin blades each about one-fourthinch wide are suitable, although more blades and blades of different widths may be employed if desired.

The blades shouldas thin as is consistent with their strength -"'and durability. Preferably being about the thickness of a safety razor blade. Perforations made by thick blades arenot readily collapsed unlessthe soap is very plastic or the stamp pressure very great.

Instead of a row of two or more relatively thin wide knife blades for perforating the bar, I have found that a row of narrow steel blades or needles mounted from about one-eighth or threesixteenths inch to about one-half inchapart Y may be used with satisfactory results. When needles are used instead of wider blades, the inspecting operation to insure against leaving a driven soap stamp the blade inspecting attach-r ment is wired so that it stops the stamp if a blade breaks.

Other means of inspecting the perforating blades, inaddition to the two already described, may be used. For example, after the blades are withdrawn from the soap a row of contact points may 'be moved up into position to touch the tips of the individual blades, the blades and contact' points. being so wired that at this moment an electric current may be passed in series from one contact point to the blade it touches, then to the adiacent blade and its contact point, then to the next adjacent contact point and the blade it touches, and so onthrough all the blades. If

a blade tip is missing the circuit will not be completed and a circuit breaker may thus be actuated to shut down the perforating device.

As a protection against turning out finished bars containing metal fragments from the perforating blades an X-ray inspection of the stamped bars may be employed, instead of the blade inspection previously described. Suitable x-ray inspecting equipment is commercially available, and may be so connected as to shut down the soap stamp if a bar is' found which casts an x-ray shadow due to the presence of foreign material.

y 2,889,773 The bar of soap produced by my method comprises a bar containips a plurality of alined, pressure collapsed perforations extending substantially through the bar from front face to back face. these perforations serving in effect to define a cleavage plane along which the box may be broken into two half bars. Since the distance between adjacent perforations may be small, the break of the bar is controlled and objectionably J ged edges are avoided. If the bar is employed.

said perforations eifectively: and, after each of said successive perforating operations and before as a whole bar, it finally breaks into two approximately equal portions when worn thin.

Having thus described my' invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1. A method of making a bar of soap of a type which may readily be broken in two, comprising perforating said bar to a substantial depth with a plurality of perforations alined across the smaller dimension of the face of said bar about midway of its length, and thereafter stamping said bar into final bar form, employing suiilcient pressure in said stamping operation to collapse said perforations effectively.

2. The process of claim 1 in which the perforations are made by knife blades.

3. The process of claim 1 in which the perforations are made by needles.

4. The process of claim 1 in which perforations are made irom both faces of the bar towards the middle.

5. A method of making, by means of adevice having perforating blades, a series of bars of soap of a type which may readily be broken in two. comprising the steps: positioning each bar of said series successively before said perforatins blades; perforating each of said bars, while so positioned, to form therein a plurality of-perforations aligned across the smaller dimension of the face of said bar about midway of its length,

by thrusting said blades each along a fixed path a substantial depth into said bar, and then withdrawing said blades, each to its starting position outside said bar; moving each of said bars successively from said perforating operation to the subsequent stamping operation; stamping each of said bars into final bar form, employing sumcient pressure in said stamping operation to collapse the next, directing a feeler means (in a direction transverse to said path of said blade) towards the position normally occupied by the tip portion of each of said blades when in said starting position; in a manner such that the movement of said feeler means beyond said path of said blade is prevented by said blade when in any of its normal positions along said path, and such that the movement of such feeler means beyond said path is not prevented but is permitted to continue beyond said path when said tip portion of said blade is missing and when said blade has been withdrawn to said starting position, and causing said feeler means to actuate a control means, adapted to arrest the bar. stamping operation, whenever the motion of said feeler meansthus continues beyond said path Of said blade.

6. A bar. of soap which may readily be'broken I to form two substantially half-sized bars, said bar containing a plurality of pressure collapsed perforations extending substantially through the bar from front face to back face, these perforations being alined across the narrower dimension of theface of the bar about midway of its length.

'7. A bar of soap which may readily be broken to form two substantially half-sized bars; said bar containing a plurality of pressure collapsed perforations extending substantially into said bar from its opposite faces, these perforations being alined across the narrower dimension of the face of the bar about midway of its length.

8. A bar ofsoap which may readily be broken in two, having a cleavage plane defined across and through its body, about midway of its length,

a'medlan plane across the bar about midway ofits lentth.

JAMES E. EGAN. 

